That Tom Elliott does not believe NI’s drivers and vehicles should be administered alongside the rest of the UK’s is unsurprising – populism always trumps Unionism, after all.
However, it is worth again demonstrating the sheer irresponsibility and nonsense evident from his defence of having a DVLA in Coleraine for NI alone while the one in Swansea covers the whole of GB.
Firstly, Mr Elliott tries to argue that Swansea lost £200m worth of files recently and “centralisation would make this even more likely”. So, apparently, adding 2.9% of the population to Swansea’s workload will see it totally collapse in administrative atrophy!
Secondly, Mr Elliott makes the old point that 300 people would be put out of work by transferring this aspect of administration to Swansea. It is hard not to sound harsh when saying this, but frankly I don’t pay taxes so someone in Coleraine can be paid £20,000 each year to administer something which doesn’t need to be administered. If these are non-jobs which frankly don’t need to be done, we have no business paying for them to be done; if jobs are to be transferred, then frankly it does make sense to transfer them from the UK region with lower unemployment and higher GDP/capita (Northern Ireland) to the one with higher unemployment and lower GDP/capita (Wales).
We have already had the SDLP’s Alex Attwood luducrously defending a system where NI has eight regional DVLA offices compared to Scotland’s five and London’s three.
In other words, we are now at the stage where the UUP and SDLP specifically advocate wastage in the system; specifically advocate government inefficiency; and specifically advocate taxpayers subsidising work which either does not need to be done or could just as easily be done elsewhere.
I’m sure hard-pressed surveyors, estate agents, cafe owners and so on will be delighted that they are being squeezed to pay taxes to such useful effect….
Some useful discussion on this topic on Ian’s Facebook page…
Well, Ian, it is so very easy to be critical! This system works OK. It “does” employ local NI people, so, if it’s not broke, why fix it? There are so many more much more important things to do. By your argument, we should also have the Police service operated from Wales and possibly the NHS as well! Think of the muddles involved in that. Support your own, not the Welsh!
It is broke; we’re all broke – that’s the point!
If the taxpayer is being asked to fork out millions for a system which could be administered just as effectively without those millions, politicians should defend the taxpayer and advocate administering it without those millions.
As for a “Unionist” talking of “our own” and not our fellow (poorer) Britons in Wales…
Ian, I asume it can be argued that ou separate system ensures local efficiency, and “harryaswell” asks why not the NHS and the PSNI? The point is that the licencing exercise is a reasonably simple process, when it comes to computer organised administration, whereas the PSNI, and the NHS are rather more human intensive in their basic subject matter, or if you like the impact takes into account human intensity!
I do hope, that there is some link up by both organisations when it comes to central UK purchasing, of vehicles and equipment, however on the operational front they deal with local people and local problems, and other local entities, Fire and Rescue, and the Courts, for instance. They simply cannot be compared with Vehicle Licencing.
When you come to local protectionist politicians, you just wonder about their individual levels of intelligence, and their appreciation of the administrative and economic facts of life, not least the need to save where we can uneccessary expenditure in ‘our’ national interest.
Saving taxpayers money is always a good idea but this is chicken feed compared to the wastage of the EU costing the UK taxpayer
Clare’s comment is a non sequitor. As Tescos will say, “Every little bit helps” or the old saying, ” Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves”. In a period of financial restraint, we must all look to tighten up our expenditure, to see if we can get the same value for less. To do otherwise is to live in financial noddy land!
Well indeed.
It’s also dubious overall. The banking bail-out has cost more than the UK has contributed to the EU in its entire membership…